Freedom's Faults
by TheEleventhIncarnate
Summary: We all know about the lone wanderer from vault 101. But what about survivors from other vaults? Specifically, vault 92? Did they survive, or were the wastes too much to handle? T for swearing and possible  mild  gore. Full summary inside.
1. Motives

Freedom's Faults

Summary: We all know the story of the lone wanderer from vault 101. But there were other vaults. What if there were more lone wanderers, too? Did they survive, or were they just more victims of the wastes? Adventure/Tragedy, T for swearing and blood.

I don't own Fallout 3, Bethesda does, blah blah blah.

Chapter 1: Motives

Rumours.

Rumours spread like toxic gas in a small room. Such a metaphor becomes even more accurate when one lives in a small place with a population of under 30 people. Despite the size of the community, in a not-so-physical manner of speaking, the people of vault 92, the music vault, were far from close.

Except for Daniel and Sage Jacobson. The twins were inseperable, and had been since birth. Like others around their age, they had been born in the concrete tomb so far below earth's surface, never to see what outside held. Their mother, Lucia, had died when they were only six years old of an unexplained heart attack.

A young Danny had claimed that the vault was "getting to them, trying to kill them all".

This, of course, wasn't a toxic rumour that had spread; no one believed him, after all. No, it was something Toby supposedly 'overheard'. Within a few hours, everyone knew.

Toby was the kid who lived down the hall from the twins. See, vault 92 was always a strong believer in the buddy system. Who knew why, when such a place was supposed to be safer than every other. Guess everything had its faults. Kids were to share rooms with their parents, guardians, whatevers until they became at least thirteen. When this happened, they were moved to the teen's dorms on the lower level.

This, of course, didn't involve a fourteen year old Thomas. He was the overseer's son. Hardly any of the rules ever applied to him.

One by one, they'd all moved down to that floor. Dan and Sage shared the room at the end, beside them was Cassandra and her little sister Jessica (nicknamed 'Jessie' by the rest), a couple of empty rooms, then Toby and his older brother Max.

All being around the same age of 17, the twins, Cassandra and Toby were the ones to hang out a lot. Even through Toby's rude - and fairly sexist - attitude, the four were pretty good friends. Not hard to believe; they did grow up together since birth.

So after band class, like every day, the group got together in Cassandra's room to talk. Except this time it was different.

"Where's Toby?" Jessie asked as the three walked into the room and sat down. She was on her bed, cross-legged, working on what Danny assumed was theory homework. He only shrugged in response to her question, and Sage spoke up from behind him.

"Not sure," she replied, pausing as she took off her backpack, dropped it on the floor and sat on the edge of Cassandra's bed. "He asked to use the restroom in the middle of class.. then never came back."

"Probably got lost on the way, the little dunce," Cass giggled. She, along with Dan, sat down on the floor near the base of the bed. Had Toby been with them, he would be sitting with Jessie, occasionally exiting the conversation to give the younger girl hints with her homework.

Without the last member of their group, the conversation continued, but felt a little empty. Despite this, they didn't worry. After all, the vault wasn't a scary place.

Just over half an hour later, Danny stood up from his spot on the ground, picked up his violin case and glanced over at his sister. He said nothing. His expression was blank with thoughts he hadn't shared. His occasional withdrawn attitude was the reason Jessie feared him until she was seven.

"Guess we better get going," Sage sighed lightly, though her ever-present smile remained gently on her pale lips.

Pushing her long, light brown hair away from her face, she wiggled off the bed, gathered up her things and followed Dan towards the door. Only two feet away from the exit, however, the door abruptly opened and Toby stumbled in, his vault suit darkened around his neck with sweat and his blonde hair stringy for the same reason. No one had a chance to speak before he did.

"Guys, guys, you'll never guess what I just overheard," he panted, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. It took him a moment before he could speak again. He took a deep breath and straightened himself out, voice dropping to a whisper. "Thomas.. _Thomas is dead." _

Gasps echoed in the small chamber. Jessie teared up. Cassandra sat next to her and pulled her into a hug.

Surprisingly, the first to speak was Danny.

"What happened?"

"Remember that test they did last night? With the loud noises over the sound system?" Toby began explaining, referring to the white noise experiment. Wide, frightened eyes stared at him and the only response he recieved was three nods from the girls. Dan didn't react, just waited for his friend to keep going. "It drove people crazy. Couple of the old people upstairs are goners, too."

A whimper was heard from Jessie and Cassandra glared at Toby for his way of wording things. Dan shook his head.

"That doesn't explain anything. What happened?" he asked again.

"I don't know, man! They said they found him this morning, foaming at the mouth, his room totally ripped apart! Had to shoot him, and the oldies, too." with his explanation, Toby raised his hands, fingers hooked over like claws as if the boy had been turned into some sort of monster. While the girls looked horrified, Danny pressed on.

"Who did you hear this from?" he sounded skeptical. Toby hadn't proved to be a very reliable source over the years. He made up and spread rumours whenever he was bored.

"When I was going to the bathroom, I heard Dr. Malleus talking about it. Turns out he was recording one of them voice notes for the records." he told them, a light smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Gaze travelling about the room, he raised four fingers on his right hand. "Four dead. And they're doing the experiment again tonight."

By now, little Jess was crying, and her older sister looked close to doing the same. She picked up the smaller girl and stood from the bed.

"Okay, that's enough. Get out of here, Toby, and take your stupid lies with you." she snapped. Her shaking voice told the others in the room that she didn't for a second believe any of it was false.

However, Toby didn't try to defend himself. He shrugged, said a quick good-bye to everyone and left the room. They could hear his boots echo through the silent hallway as he made his way towards the room he shared with Max. The four kids glanced around at each other, sharing their unspoken fear.

"Don't worry, guys, Toby's always making stuff up to scare us," Sage tried to reassure. Dan nodded, but said nothing. Jessie wasn't buying it.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow." Cassandra said softly. Taking the hint, the twins waved to the sisters, and left the room themselves. Hearing the door shut behind them, an uneasy look passed between them. No words were spoken until their own bedroom door closed behind them and they crashed in their beds.

"So what do you think?" Sage asked Dan, staring up at the ceiling. Her own mind was heavy with thoughts, but she always liked to hear her brother's first. His seemed to be a lot more organized than hers. A short pause filled the room while he sighed and ran his fingers through his short, messy hair.

"He's not lying," came the reply. Sage was expecting an answer like that, but at the same time had been hoping and praying that it wouldn't come. She didn't want to believe that people were dying in the safety of their homes. She didn't want to believe that they were in terrible danger. "We have to get out of here."

She didn't want to believe that, either.

"What do you mean, 'get out'? The door's locked!" she pointed out, flipping on to her side to stare at her brother.

"The computer's not hard to hack." he went silent for a moment, almost in guilt. "I've done it before."

Sage felt like she could smack him. "You've done _what? _What's wrong with you?"

Danny raised a finger to his lips as he glanced over at her, signalling her to calm down. Against her will, she complied. "For emergencies," he replied, "like this one."

She sighed heavily and sat up on the edge of her bed. This life was all she'd ever known; her brother, too, it baffled her that he'd be so willing to leave it all behind. Although they had been wondering.. no, dreaming about what was on the other side of that door. It wasn't so much leaving the vault itself, but the people inside it, trapped here with them. How would their father cope with losing his entire family?

And then there was Cassandra, Jessie, even Toby. The only friends Sage and her twin had ever had. They were like family, too. Could they really just leave everything?

"I don't know about this..." she whispered.

"Sage, this is live or die. I've seen the reports."

"You should keep your nose out of things."

"Then what would be our chances of survival?"

The banter continued like any other fight they had, though this one was so much more tense. It really was as Danny had said. Live or die. After much urging and convincing, Sage hung her head and gave a small, almost invisible nod.

"Fine. I'll go." she surrendered.

"Good," Dan stood from his bed, grabbed his backpack, opened it, and emptied it on the floor. "Get packing. Tonight's the night."


	2. Letting Go

Freedom's Faults

Chapter 2: Letting Go

(A/N: Changed the boy's name from Theo to Danny. It feels like it fits better.)

Despite the twins being packed up in a manner of under half an hour, they didn't leave for quite some time. Dan had explained to his sister that they wouldn't be able to just waltz right out when everyone was still awake. Once more, against her will, Sage listened to him.

It was painful to her, what they were doing. They were leaving. Without so much as a goodbye. Surely if someone else knew, their plans would be ruined.. but still. Their dad had come to say good night about an hour ago. Sage bit her lip open in an attempt to stifle her tears. They weren't the closest of families, by far, yet knowing she would never see him again was hard on her.

Dan hardly reacted. It worried her. In fact, she couldn't help but notice that he was excited, maybe even happy to be getting out.

The two went to sleep at around 10pm, like normal routine depicted, soon after the white noise was shut off. Both twins had covered their ears with pillows through it. At 3am on the dot, Danny's alarm went off. He hit the snooze button out of reflex. Even through the situation, that made Sage laugh quietly. Slowly the siblings forced themselves out of bed and gathered their things. To make things easier, they'd both slept in their clothes.

"You're not bringing that, are you?" Danny inquired, regarding Sage's violin case which she held in her hand. Blushing slightly and seemingly flustered, she put it down gently on her bed. He noted that she was reluctant to release the handle.

"Force of habit," she whispered. He didn't bother responding.

Silently slinging his bag over his shoulder, he went for the door - and stopped. Sage started to ask what her brother was doing, wasting their time, but her unspoken question was soon answered as he made his way over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. After a moment of consideration, the twin withdrew an old handgun, as well as a few rounds that he stuck in his back pocket.

"D-Dan..?"

"You never know.." he said quietly. She wondered if he even knew how to fire the thing. For that matter, where did he get a firearm? So many questions flooded her mind about things her own twin was keeping from her. She decided against wasting any more time, instead opening the room's door and stepping softly outside. Danny followed.

They stuck to the shadows of the dark vault. Everyone was asleep, of course - had been since the dreadful noise was shut off. But just in case someone wasn't. They didn't want to be taking any unneeded risks. Neither of the twins could shake the feeling that they weren't alone. Perhaps not being followed, but a seperate presence was felt by both of them. Something a few feet behind them clattered to the metal ground.

"_The hell was that?_" Sage whispered in alarm, grip on her bag's shoulder strap tightening. Her brother covered her mouth with one hand and looked around while she struggled against him. It was no use; the vault was just too dark. He could hardly see a thing.

"Probably nothing," Danny whispered back, but his eyes remained fixed on the darkness that concealed the noise's source. He let his hand fall away from Sage. "The exit's close. Let's go."

Hesitantly, they began moving again. Both continuously glanced over their shoulders. Whatever was back there, that unknown presence, it wasn't going away. It followed the twins up to the main foyer, where Sage waited uneasily for her brother to pick the door to the exit's lock.He made quick work of it.

"Dan.. there's something.."

"I know." he cut her off grimly. They closed the door behind them, picking up the pace as the giant steel exit finally came into view. A sense of relief and heart stopping fear washed over them at the same time. "There's the computer. Hold on-"

The sound of the door they'd just come through opening and closing again stopped both of their breathing. Sage's eyes filled with tears and she shrank back behind her brother. His eyes fixed on the black doorframe.

A low chuckle filled the twins' ears. Neither had ever been so petrified in their entire lives. The laugh grew and grew, slowly getting louder and more manic as it drew nearer to them. After what felt like hours of clueless fear, a shape appeared, seeming to be struggling to walk.. and, they realized in horror, foaming at the mouth. Closer and closer it limped. Danny snapped out of his frozen state and fumbled for his gun, clicked the safety off and aimed it at the unidentified monster.

Until they saw it wasn't an unidentified monster at all.

It was Toby.

"Oh my god!" Sage sobbed from behind him. Danny lined up the shot, willing his hands to stop shaking.

"Don't look," he told her, blinking away the tears that had come to fill his own eyes. Toby, or, what was left of him, continued to walk towards the siblings, a sick, psychotic grin just barely visible through the darkness. It forced Dan to step backwards in response. Unable to tear his gaze off what used to be his best friend, he couldn't see if Sage was doing as he'd said or not. Nevertheless, he knew what he had to do.. but his trigger finger wouldn't comply.

"Dan.. it's getting closer.. _Dan!_"

He fired the shot.

His aim was too shaky. The bullet missed.

Dan took a deep breath, along with another step backwards, away from the steadily nearing Toby. He had been hoping this was a joke his friend was pulling, but even Toby wouldn't keep trying after a real gun fired a real shot. Another deep breath. He aimed again.

Shot.

Had the room been lit better, the boy could have watched the blood trickle down his best friend's forehead before he fell to the floor. The handgun fell as well, dropped from Dan's limp hands as he lowered himself to his knees beside the wounded teenager.

No.. not wounded. Dead.

A shoulder came to rest on Danny's shoulder. He flinched.

"Dan.. I'm sorry.. but we don't have time for this.. somebody must have heard the shots." Sage told him gently. Without a word, he stood up again, but otherwise didn't move. His sister had to take him by the hand and pull him away from the body. Pushing him in front of the terminal that gave off a faint green glow, she worried he wouldn't continue with the plan, but he soon began tapping at the keys.

While she waited, Sage walked back over to where the handgun had fallen and picked it up, turning it over a few times in her hands. She turned the safety back on. Her brown eyes then trailed across the floor, back to the form of her friend that lay still there.

Before she knew it, the large mechanism that would release them from the vault was moving. She quickly wiped the tears from her pale cheeks and watched it. The machine connecting with the large door, there was a moment of silence - and then a screech so painfully loud that both the twins clapped their hands over their ears and shut their eyes tight.

It felt like forever before the terrible noise stopped. Matching brown eyes were opened slowly, hesitantly, before Dan and Sage relaxed. Not bothering to take the time to walk around the terminal and down the steps, Dan just jumped over the guardrail and stood in front of the open entrance, his sister joining him.

"This is it," he said, reaching over to take the pistol from her and holster it. There was a shabby looking wooden door at the end of a short tunnel. Light peered through the cracks in it.

Joining hands, the twins hesitantly stepped out and towards the wooden door. Dan put his hands against it. It creaked softly.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Sage took one last glance over her shoulder. So this was it. She'd never see Cass again, or her own father. But there was no way they could turn back now. Not only had Danny just killed Toby, but even if they were welcomed back, it was only a matter of time. Whatever had gotten into their friend wasn't going to stop. She turned back to her brother and nodded sadly. "As I'll ever be."

They pushed the door open together. Thankfully, at such an early hour, the sun they had never before seen wasn't high enough to blind them. The two did, however, look up and take their sweet time in marvelling at the sky. Beautiful contrasts of blue, from navy to a lighter, almost baby blue lit up most of the atmosphere. While the time neared towards five in the morning, blue gradually faded to a light yellow, and far on the horizon, the teens could see magnificent hues of orange and red.

That's where it ended. As their eyes left the wonderful colours of the sky, they fell on the earth that so horribly clashed against it. There was not a single blade of grass in sight. What they were shown during classes, what the world used to look like, what it was _supposed _to look like.. it wasn't like that at all.

Miles upon miles of grey. That's all either of them could see.

"It's..." Dan began, but was at a loss for words. He didn't know how he could possibly describe a place like this. So he didn't. "I'm glad to be out of the vault," he said instead. Sage nodded in agreement.

"We should get out of here.. away from here.. far away." she said quietly, glancing at the pip-boy that rested on her arm. The residents of vault 92 all had one, yet hardly any actually used them. They never found a use to. Now, however, Sage flipped a few dials and brought up the small map installed in it. Excluding vault 92 itself and vault-tec HQ, there were no points marked out.

"Helpful," Dan remarked sarcastically, then shrugged. "I say we head South. It doesn't look like direction matters out here. Unless the big city's still intact."

Another nod. "Yeah.. I bet it's hell out there." They both looked on Sage's pip-boy and studied the map carefully. It was vague, but detailed enough to tell the general areas of a few places they were taught of. Dan pointed to a section that looked busier than the others, separated by a fairly large body of water.

"That has to be it," he stated confidently. "We should steer clear. At least until we get a little knowledge of this.. place."

Sage pulled the map back to vault 92 and traced her finger around it. "Should we check out the locals?" she inquired, glancing around.

"I don't know... we were only shown the larger settlements.." Dan paused and looked around as well. Down in the ditch, his view was much too restricted. He took Sage's hand again and climbed up the steep pathway, immediately greeted by the sight of shattered highways, a few bases for torn houses, and a run-down looking ghost town. "Looks dangerous," he muttered.

"Everything out here looks dangerous." Sage pointed out. Sadly, he had to agree.

"I guess whatever's in there can't be worse than everywhere else."

Without another word, the siblings began their walk towards the town. They stepped over and around large piles of rock, concrete and broken streets. Unease was shared between them, but neither of them felt the need to say anything about it.

A single turn at what used to be an intersection showed them the worst destruction they could imagine. For a moment, Dan and Sage only stood in the middle of the rubble-littered street, crumbled buildings all around. A sense of dread buried itself deep within their chests. Willing their feet to move, the two carefully made their way through the rocks, stumbling and tripping past the heavy mess. Dan, who was ahead of Sage by a few steps, came to the end of the street and stopped.

"Wh-" Sage began to ask, but her brother turned and raised a finger to his lips, the urgency in his dark brown eyes shushing her immediately. On his right was a giant crater and a dead end. On his left, an alley and an open street. Nothing in sight. He didn't trust it.

"Thought I heard something," he told her softly. She looked scared. He regretted saying anything at all.

With much reluctance, Sage followed him again, to the end of the street and glanced around. Once she saw with her own eyes that nothing was there, she relaxed slightly.

Dan grabbed her wrist and pulled her along behind him. Despite that she usually would have, she didn't try to argue. It wasn't the time or the place. She wondered if it ever would be again. But the thought didn't have enough time to stick; Dan ducked into the alley. Another dead end, but there was a small, greenish box and a first-aid kit. Looked handy enough.

"Either of 'em locked?" Danny asked, drawing his pistol from its holster and moving towards the street again. Sage took the hint.

"No, thank god," she sighed in relief, checking both lids before the contents. In the little green box was some ammo she wasn't able to identify, but took it anyway, dropping it into a small satchel at her side. The white box contained a bottle of pills entitled "Rad-X" and three needles. She held them up. "What're these?"

Dan returned to his sister's side and took one from her open palm. Studying it closely, he found only the brand name - "Stimpak" - and instructions on what to do with it. Turning it over a few times, his face finally lit up with understanding. "Adrenaline," he answered. Honestly, he'd expected more questions about it from his sister, but Sage only nodded and took the needles, stuffing them in her bag.

She stood and they cautiously rounded the corner. Another crater broke the street to bits. Danny stumbled on a dislodged section of concrete, almost plummeting head first into the large hole.

As the sun rose a little higher in the sky, a deep orange light was cast over the monochrome grey terrain. It helped the ghost town to look a little less dead.

For a reason neither twin could explain, there was a wall that seemed to have been made after the bombs dropped on the other side of what looked like a parking lot. They were left with another left-or-right choice. With the left path leading out of the town entirely, Dan and Sage went right. Their footsteps echoed quietly on the ruined stone around. They could both swear there was another set.. but neither said a word.

There were more buildings now; one that looked fairly well intact, but the doors and windows were completely boarded up. The one across the street, however, was hardly intact at all. Its doors were covered as well. Not that it mattered - most of the walls were in piles on the ground.

The siblings climbed over the rocks and into the building. Nothing was there.. except a door that _wasn't _boarded. In fact, it was only the frame. Outside was a road, a guardrail, and tons of skeleton houses. Sage, who was just glad to be out of the town, swung one leg over the railing before her brother stopped her.

"... Did you hear that?" Danny whispered, head cocked to one side as he listened.

"Hear what?" Sage asked, but Dan had brought his finger to his lips again and was backtracking inside the ruins. Sighing, Sage followed.

Standing in the doorway, Dan had a good street view. An old highway was in sight; one he didn't even feel the desire to check. It had to be on its last legs over there. He was about to turn around again when it stepped in to view.

A creature that was so large, so terrifying, that it made what had happened in vault 92 look like a six-year old's birthday party.

Thankfully its back was towards them. It stood like a human being, its front 'legs' slightly stretched out in front of it with claws that had to be at least a foot long each. From where Dan stood, he couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it had horns, as well. The thing was hideously bony, and might have even had scales. Its long tail lay on the ruined ground behind it. Judging by what he could see, Dan assumed its teeth matched its claws.

Sage saw it too. A light gasp left her lips before she could stifle it.

The creature froze.

Turned its head towards them; small, white eyes locking with Dan's. He had been right about its teeth.

His heart stopped.


	3. Danger is an Understatement

Freedom's Faults

Chapter 3: 'Danger' is an Understatement

(A/N: About the questions regarding time period. I hadn't given much thought to it aside from it being generally around the same time 101 left their vault, perhaps some time before. Not a lot of distance between, though. Oh, and thanks for the reviews! I do apologise on being so slow on updating. Things got a bit hectic for a bit, I'm hoping to not leave too much of a wait anymore.)

"Back away," Dan instructed slowly, steadily backpedalling towards the building's exit again. One step, two-

The creature lunged.

"Holy fuck, _run!" _Sage shrieked in alarm. Both teens spun on their heels and bolted out of the ruins, vaulting over the guard rail only to lose their unstable footing on the rocky hill, tumbling head over heels to the bottom. Dizzy and disoriented, they stood and sprinted in separate directions. Dan dove for cover behind the wreckage of what was once a nearby house.

His heart pounded in his chest and he briefly wondered if it was possible that it could burst. Back pressed against wood panelling, he could hardly hear anything over the sound of his breath rushing in and out of his lungs. He forced himself to peer over the fragment of wall that he was using as cover.

Dan's once pumping-too-fast heart stopped completely. The monster had gone after her. His sister. Now that he had caught his breath, he could hear her scared cries and whimpers from the skeletal remains of a house she was climbing.

Thankfully, the seemingly unreliable broken concrete and wood looked to be holding. Sage was, after all, a lightweight.

Higher and higher she scrambled, nearly losing her balance and plummeting to the creature's outstretched claws below multiple times. Even in the twilight's lack of sun, Daniel could see the slight shine of his sister's cheeks being stained with flowing tears.

"Ah... g-go away... p-please.." the frightened girl stuttered. If the creature that was ever so happily terrorizing her could laugh, it probably would have.

What could they do? Aside from the handgun, both twins were totally helpless. Even if Dan used the only weapon in his possession, that _thing _would just tear him to shreds and go back to waiting for its little piñata to get tired.

It looked like the end already. They had been out of the hell of a vault and on to the hell of a surface for, what, an hour? Two? And they were already dead? Frustration blurring common sense, he balled up a fist and struck his 'shelter'.

The splintered wood cracked.

An idea came - no, _slammed _into his mind. Not two feet to his left was a large wooden pole, once part of the house's Eastern wall. Dan pushed himself to his shaky feet and grabbed it with both hands, yanking it upwards with all his strength. At first, the wood wouldn't budge an inch, and he began to worry it was too deep to get out. Frantically now, he pushed it backwards, forwards, left and right, but with no results.

The creature's gaze was caught by Dan's movement. It stared at him, almost seemed to be.. no, he was sure of it, it was grinning at him. Both remained stone still for a short moment before it moved towards the teenager, losing all interest in Sage.

"_Dan!_" she screamed in horror as the short gap between her brother and the monster became shorter. He immediately began pulling at the plank again, struggling to free it from the dirt before he was sliced into bits. His predator no more that three feet away from him now, Dan suddenly stepped back, one hand still gripping the wood, and kicked it hard.

Once. Twice. Three times. Sweat poured down his face. It was over. He delivered a final kick, already in the process of saying his prayers, when - _snap!_ The wood was still in one piece, but one pull and - yes, yes, he freed it! Although he'd lost quite a bit of the plank's length, one side was splintered and therefore rather sharp.

The creature was still moving towards him. Slowly. _Purposely _slowly. It was toying with him and Dan knew it. He backed away, holding the wood up as his only form of defense. At first, he'd wanted to sneak up behind the monstrosity with the 'weapon' and take it by surprise. Now.. now it was useless.

Neither made an attempt to attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dan saw his sister start to climb down the house frame.

He knew the stick wouldn't protect from those massive claws. Why the thing didn't just kill him now was a mystery. Surely if he went for his gun it would.

So he continued to back away, while the creature continued to advance.

"Hey, you dumb bitch!" came Sage's shout from somewhere behind the threat. She sounded unsure. Not like she didn't have a reason to. Along with her brother, she succeeded in distracting his attacker.

_The fuck are you doing? _Dan thought to himself, but suddenly found himself looking at the confused creature's back. Stunned as he was, he nearly missed the opportunity. He raised the plank high above his head and brought its splintered side down on the back of the thing's skull.

It let out a terrifying growl. Without another moment of hesitation, Dan raised his weapon and brought it down again, landing two more hits before the angry creature abruptly turned and slashed at him. He and his sister screamed in unison.

Sage watched her twin lose his footing on the dirt and fall to the ground. His attacker lunged again, striking nothing but the ground as its prey rolled to his right. It continued to attack, enraged by Daniel's agility. It was no longer interested in playing with them. It wanted them dead and it wanted them dead _now._

The pattern didn't falter. Predator tried to land a hit, prey just barely managed to dodge it. But Dan was growing tired. He couldn't get off the ground - he didn't have enough time. Watching the whole scenario in absolute horror, Sage couldn't bring herself to move.

_Do something! _A voice inside her urged. And it caught her eye: the stick. It wasn't much of a weapon, and with her limited upper body strength, it was likely to be useless. But she couldn't just stand there and watch her brother die. Snatching the plank up from the dirt, she took a deep, shaking breath and struck the creature on the back.

Distracted once more, it temporarily forgot about the boy below it and glanced back at Sage. Her heart stopped.

Just as it began to strike, however, Danny flipped himself around, grabbed onto the thing's inner-ankles and pulled.

It wasn't enough. His strength wasn't enough for the monster's mass.

For the third time that day, he realized he was done for, and they were going to die.

Sage jumped up and caught hold of the menacing horns atop the thing's head, yanking them down as she stepped away from her brother. Completely caught off-guard, it lost its balance and tumbled forwards, landing face-down in the dirt.

Dan scrambled to his feet, pulled his pistol from its holster and shot all the loaded rounds into the enemy's exposed head. The clip empty, he took another from his pocket and shot them as well, hardly a pause between. Although he wanted to repeat his actions once more, he definitely didn't want to have to go through that again without any ammo left. With a kick to the dead body's side, the boy returned his gun to the holster at his side.

"... Well that was-"

"Don't." Sage cut off her brother's comment, shaking her head. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she stared down at the lifeless creature, hugging herself tightly. "Don't. The sarcasm.. not now."

"Sage..." Dan took a step towards her, but stopped when she put up her hand to halt him. She was trembling.

"This is wrong.. this is all wrong.. I want to go home.." she hung her head and sniffled. He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do. Dan had never been good at comforting people; if their father wasn't there to do it, Sage was, and she was great at it.

"You know we can't do that," he reminded her quietly. Running a hand through her long brown hair, his sister returned her gaze to him. Sniffled again.

"I know." she responded. Despite her body shaking less now, her voice was still far from steady. Silence fell between the two. Eyes dropping once again, Sage gave the corpse at her feet a hard kick to the teeth. For a moment she almost expected it to get up.

Thankfully, it did not.

"We should-"

"Get moving. I know." she finished Dan's sentence before he could, leaving him to only give a slow nod. He may not have shown it as much as his twin.. but the encounter with such a terrifying being had shaken him just as much, if not more. He continuously told himself that was the worst of it, that it got better and they'd just had a stroke of bad luck.

But had they?

Maybe they'd had a stroke of _good _luck. Maybe that was only a mouse compared to what was out in the wasteland they'd now have to call home. Who knew.

The sun rose higher in the sky as the two advanced in their journey. It was silent - nothing else trying to kill them just yet. Regardless, Daniel's hand didn't leave the handgun at his side. After not four minutes of walking, Sage was already fiddling with her pip-boy. Her brother didn't bother to ask about it. However, the time passed and he was growing more and more curious.

Static suddenly started to crackle from the device, followed by more tampering. Soon enough, a voice broke through.

"-_eeeee doog, comin' to you loud and proud from my fortified bunker in the middle of the D.C. hell-hole!_" it shouted, and a slight smile touched Sage's lips. She'd constantly look for stations on her radio back in the vault, but with no avail. Hearing something other than classical music - and white noise, she thought with a shudder - would be great.

"Sounds like it'll be annoying," Danny joked as an up-beat jazz song started playing. His sister shot him a glare, but the smile hadn't faded. They proceeded with nothing but the music and constant commentary from the self-proclaimed 'disc-jockey'.

While part of both twins wanted to meet this man, a 'hell-hole' didn't sound like an inviting place to go.

They weren't safe anymore, that was evident. While the wastes gradually got lighter, the scenery seemed to get even more discouraging. Everything was gone. Destroyed. Was there even a shred of civilization left out there?

"_Maaaaybeee,_" sang Sage's pip-boy, and Dan couldn't help a smile of his own.

Maybe there was. Maybe they would survive. Maybe they'd find other people to help them. Maybe they'd find the man on the radio. Maybe they'd find a way to be alright after all.

But those were all rather large maybe's.

The horizon held no clues whatsoever. Dan could see what looked like a radio tower to the East. To the.. he checked his pip-boy. To the South-West, there was some sort of factory. Beyond it was too far to make out.

No path to lead them, no way of knowing where they were going.. the freedom was frightening, but it was still freedom, and the pleasure the twins felt by it remained unspoken between them. They passed easily through a barbed-wire fence that was missing most of its barbed-wire.

"Protected neighborhood?" Dan guessed, glancing back over his shoulder.

"No," Sage replied, pointing over at an animal that was walking around a few feet ahead. "Looks like a pasture."

Their steps slowing, both gradually stopped to stare at the beast. The animal had looked generally harmless at first. Strangely discoloured and malnourished, but otherwise normal. Sage suddenly covered her mouth with both hands to stifle a cry.

This thing was obviously no longer just a cow. In fact, the only reason anyone could tell it was once a cow was its udders. Its large, rather disgusting udders.

But other than the fact it was a reddish-pink and so skinny its ribs were showing, its mutation was much, much worse. It turned to look at them - not threatening, but surprising nonetheless. For the creature had two heads. Two, low-hanging, reddish-pink heads.

".. That is just _beyond _wrong." Sage said quietly, her hand hesitantly lowering away from her face. Dan could only nod in agreement.

"Doesn't look hostile," he muttered, forcing his feet to start moving again. "Let's just.. keep going."

With some hesitation, the other brunette walked on as well, though her wide eyes were glued to the deformed cow for a good ten seconds more.

"So there's mutated cows and miniature dinosaurs out here.." Sage muttered, "At least it's more interesting than the vault?"

Danny had started to reply, but abruptly stopped walking and outstretched his arm nearest to his sister, holding her back. She glanced at him questioningly, but knew better than to say anything. His dark eyes scanned the ditches nearby.

She heard it too, now. A scuttling noise, a brief pause, then the noise again. There was something close to them. Likely unaware of their presence, but near nonetheless. Judging by what they'd seen already, whatever it was could not be good news. Dan took a cautious step back, bringing the other teen with him as his arm was still acting as some sort of safety rail in front of her.

A foot made a crunching sound in the dirt. Both kids froze. To their horror, so did the scuttling noise - before it returned, and its source peeked over the small hill about six feet to their left.

"The fuck is that?" Sage shrieked before she could cover her mouth again. The creature, an abnormally large scorpion, wasted no time in crawling towards them.

"I don't know! Just don't let it touch you!" Dan replied, retreating much faster now. He fumbled for his gun, not daring to take his eyes off the new threat. It drew nearer and nearer with alarming speed. More jazz from the radio.

"It's the size of a fucking labrador!" she shouted in fear. Once again, their attacker decided to target her instead of her brother. However, this time, instead of being scared out of reacting, she suddenly stopped walking completely. The mutant scorpion was seconds away from striking when -

Sage kicked it. Hard, right to its face. The thing not only flipped helplessly on to its back, but slid at least a foot away.

"Shoot it, dummy!" she commanded her brother, who was standing there with his mouth open in shock. Her shout brought him back to the real world and he aimed his pistol at the squirming animal, delivering four quick shots to its exposed stomach. It proved to be a weak point, and the body soon went still. Dan let out a long breath of relief.

"You're insane," he sighed.

"Looks like you have to be to survive out here." she retaliated. He didn't have an answer to that. Holstering his weapon once more, Dan scanned the horizon again.

Near the radio tower he'd spotted earlier, there looked to be more now that they were closer. A lot was hidden behind the highway, some of which was still standing and some that was in large piles on the ground. Still, something was visible. Something that looked like a water tower off in the distance. Water should mean people, shouldn't it? There was too much debris in the way to see anything else.

"See that?" the boy pointed out to his sister, yet stopped when he saw she was already half way up one of the rubble piles.

"I see a lot of things," she called back jokingly. Shielding her eyes from the sun that was fully in the yellow-ish sky now, she scouted about. Not a lot more was revealed to her than what Dan saw, apart from something much closer that had been entirely blocked by the stone she stood on. The radio's DJ, 'Three Dog', was talking again. They ignored him.

"Anything specific?" he asked from below, his back turned to her so nothing would sneak up on them.

"A radio tower, a billboard," she started naming them off, "a water tower, a grain silo and a little road-side diner."

With that, Dan climbed up on the rocks too. "Think it's worth checking out?" he asked.

Sage merely shrugged. "Nowhere else to go," she reminded him. Frowning a bit, he nodded. She was right. They didn't have a whole lot of options going for them at this point.

Nowhere else to go.. that was certainly spot-on. Couldn't go back - not that they wanted to, anyway. And 'onwards' was incredibly vague. The wasteland seemed to stretch on forever in every direction they looked. Dan suddenly felt very small in a very large world. The sun further lit up their new world as the twins climbed back down the ruins and started towards the cracked road.

Nearing the guard rail, both teenagers simultaneously froze in their tracks. Their hearts skipped a beat.

"_Now kiddies, when the raiders come to play, there ain't no shame in locking your doors, barricading the windows and-" _Sage clicked off the radio.

Conversation could be heard from the building ahead.


	4. Humanity

Freedom's Faults

Chapter 4: Humanity

"Seriously, Eggs, I'd rather eat rocks."

"Baked or deep-fried?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Daniel very cautiously slipped over the guard rail and crouched behind the wreckage of an old car. His sister followed. From far away, the diner had seemed empty. From far away, the siblings had felt dread and isolation, a deep pang of loneliness in this open world. But now that they'd drawn nearer and heard the first human voices since they'd escaped their prison of a home, they only felt nervous.

Who was to say they were friendly? Obviously it was kill or be killed out here. Approaching with a salesman smile and an empty hand was the last thing Dan wanted to do. From what he could hear, there were three of them. Heart caught in his throat, he slowly eased himself around the side of the vehicle shelter to get a peek.

His jaw dropped at what he saw.

The people—two men, one woman—that had made a shelter out of the old diner looked about as savage as a human being could get. They were so caked in dirt and blood that he couldn't tell what their skin colour was supposed to be. It was a new race entirely, almost. They were the ashy colour of the wasteland itself. The woman's hair was scarce, and what little was left was spiked in every direction, as well as dyed a vibrant green. Or maybe the radiation did that. The vault boy couldn't be sure. One man, 'Eggs,' Dan assumed, was attempting to cook an unrecognisable creature over a fire. His hair was shaved off entirely.

But it was the third that made Dan cover his mouth and fight back the nausea. The other man, too, was shaved bald, and he was busying himself with hanging a mutilated body up outside the diner's front entrance. The twins could hear the sound of ripping flesh as he set it into place, tearing the hook deep through the corpse's abdomen. Its head was missing, as well as three of four limbs.

Sage had been watching, too. She returned to behind the car as quickly as possible, though without making sound, and pressed her hand tightly to her mouth.

"Fuck, Ratchet, what the hell are you doing?" the woman asked. She sounded genuinely amused.

"Putting up the Christmas decorations," Ratchet answered. Laughter followed.

"We have to kill them," Dan whispered to his mortified sister, nearly soundless. The three human beasts ahead had fallen into rowdy conversation about how bad Eggs was at cooking, but he didn't want to risk giving away their position. Sage, now with both hands pressed firmly to her lips, shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.

There was no point in arguing. They were too close to get up and walk back in the direction they came. There was no doubt in Dan's mind that if they were spotted, those inhumans would open fire, then string them up the same way Ratchet had moments before. He checked his pistol to make sure it was loaded. Clicked the safety off. Took a deep, shaking breath.

He stood up.

"Uh, hey," he called out to them. In no time at all, all three were standing with a weapon at the ready; Ratchet with a large knife, his friends with pistols trained on the vault boy. However, there were no shots fired, and Ratchet made no movement towards him. They laughed at him.

"Look at this little guy!" exclaimed Eggs, nearly in tears with how funny this was to him. His weapon, a .44 magnum in poor condition, was no longer pointed Dan's way. Maybe being such a joke wasn't the worst thing he could be right now. His grip on his pistol tightened.

"Fresh out of the vault, are you? Damn, you're one pale little shit," the woman remarked, a snide smirk on her features. It was disgusting. All of this was.

"Aw, don't be so hard on the kid, Fay." Now Ratchet was moving. Dan was trying so hard not to look at the knife, at the dead body on the hook, and most importantly, at his sister. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, but he didn't risk a glance. Their enemies mustn't know he had a partner.

The hardest was trying not to look nervous. His hands shook and his stomach flipped over on itself a million times.

"I was wondering if you could direct me to the nearest settlement," Dan managed to choke out. He sounded as scared as he felt. The men laughed again, but Fay simply smiled, as she had all this time, staring at him like he was an interesting piece of meat. Obviously she was sharper than the other two. Or crazier. Or both. Either way, she looked as if she wanted to play with him before she killed him, and somehow, that was worse than the man coming towards him with a combat knife in his bloody hands.

"This is the nearest settlement, baby. We got beds, fire, food, and as much roof as a waster could possibly get over his head these days," Ratchet told him, now standing on the other side of the car Dan had been taking shelter behind. He put his palms down on the wreckage and leaned against it, leaning in close to the boy from the vault. He smelled of blood and rot. While disgusted, Dan was not surprised. He didn't lean away. "Now, what's a little vault shit like you doing out here?"

"Long story," Dan replied simply.

"I want to hear it," Fay said.

"I'm not looking to tell."

"Tell anyway."

"No."

"Look here, asshole," Ratchet intruded, "If the lady wants it to be story time, you tell her whatever dungeons and dragons you got in that pretty little head, or I'll cut them out of you."

Silence followed. A full six seconds of it.

Then, without warning, Dan reached forwards and grabbed Ratchet's head on both sides, throwing the man's skull down on the car with all his strength. Out cold, the body slid off the hood and collapsed on the road.

Two pistols were trained on him in a matter of seconds. Just as Dan was about to be fired on, a shower of rocks in all sizes from pebbles to small baseballs rained on the wastelanders. Though not lethal, the rocks were distraction enough for Dan to aim his pistol and fire, taking five shots until the opposing side fell. He glanced to his right, stunned and confused. Sage stared back at him, crouched behind a similarly ruined vehicle with a stack of 'ammo' on both sides of her.

She shrugged. "I was always the best on the little league team." But there was no humour in her voice, and her face showed only a weary look of horror.

Dan heard a groan and hopped over the hood of his shelter. His boots came down on Ratchet's chest. The man's forehead was already starting to bruise and bled from various little cuts, presumably due to the rust it had very abruptly been forced upon.

"I'll fucking kill you," Ratchet croaked, and Dan put one foot down on his windpipe, applying a small amount of pressure to the sensitive area. Ratchet's hands groped for the shoe, but his concussed state left him unable to keep hold, much less pry it off. Air whistled audibly in and out of his throat.

"What are you?" Dan demanded. "Why were you going to hurt me?"

Despite his position, Ratchet tried to laugh. It was wheezy and he started to cough. Still, he grinned, that awful grin of his that was black in places and missing five or more teeth.

"We're raiders, kid. That's what we do."

Ratchet never said another word. The bullet Dan put through his head made sure of that. Nothing so barbaric should ever exist inside a human's body. He didn't know what being a 'raider' meant, nor did he want to know. Hopefully these people weren't prevalent throughout the wasteland. Maybe they were a gang. Or maybe the 'gang' stopped at the three he'd just killed. He didn't know. But he was really sick of not knowing.

His body was moving before his brain was aware of it. Kneeling down, reaching forwards… taking things. Looting the corpse of a human being that had just died by his hands. Ratchet's knife found its way into Dan's belt and his pockets were quickly but thoroughly searched.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Sage demanded. She sounded ill.

"Search the others," he said.

There was no reply. Sage hadn't moved.

"Search the others." Her brother repeated, louder.

"Fuck you."

She moved, then, but not in the direction of the fallen raiders. She simply turned her back on Daniel, paused to click her radio back on, and started down the road without him. Without a weapon. He caught up to her in a matter of moments, but not before checking Fay and Eggs of equipment. There was little on them besides a bit of ammo, but every little thing could be the difference between life and death, so he pocketed it anyway.

"Sage," he tried to get her attention, but when she refused to look at him, he grabbed her hand, forced the fingers open, and closed them again around the combat knife.

Her free hand's palm made contact with his cheek. The pale skin reddened almost instantly.

"Have you lost your mind already? Don't you have a shred of humanity left in you?" her voice had risen to a shout. Her grip on her new weapon was tight enough to force the blood out of her knuckles. Dan, stunned and holding a hand to his stinging face, could only stare at her, open-mouthed.

"I… I…"

"You what?" Galaxy News' song had finished a moment before, and now Sage was competing with Three-Dog's insisting that ghouls are people, too. Whatever the hell a ghoul happened to be. "It doesn't matter what your excuse is. You killed three people and then had the nerve to steal from them. There's something very wrong with you, Daniel."

"I'm just scared."

Sage stared at her brother in disbelief. The way he looked now, his hair and clothes all misshapen, his dark eyes wide with fear; he looked just as he had when he'd see his first radroach at seven years old. The quiet boy without emotion showing something no one expected he ever would. Weakness.

She'd never wanted to pull him into her arms more than she did at that moment. Yet she did not. Her pink lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line and she shook her head, sliding the knife into her belt.

"You had no right." She squeaked. Pushing her hair out of her face, she looked off in the direction she'd just been walking in. Nothing lay close enough to hold promise. All they could do was move south.

"I'm just trying to keep us alive," Dan said. Sage shook her head again and started off without reply, but she'd no sooner taken two steps than been stopped by her brother's grip on her wrist, holding her back. She threw a questioning glance his way, but he spoke before the question could leave her head. "We can't miss opportunities like that so we can be civil. Have you looked around? There's no civil out here. No law. No humanity. It's us against the world now and this world is hard. If we don't toughen up with it, we'll die soft."

She looked at him as if his words were a dagger he'd just cut her with. Maybe they were. Maybe his words had taken her hope of a new, safe life away. But that was how life happened to be now. He couldn't go leaving behind useful supplies because taking them was disrespectful. Otherwise there was no point in their escape at all.

Sage said nothing. She pulled her wrist away from him and resumed walking as if he wasn't even there anymore.

Wreckage, wreckage, and more wreckage. There were no intact roads to follow. The one outside the diner had cracked and disappeared into dust within a few minutes. The highway nearby seemed to run in a north-south direction for quite some time, so they followed that instead, though kept their distance from it. The overhead cover and surrounding ditches looked like too defendable a cover for the area to be abandoned.

The wasteland really did live up to its name. While the twins generally wanted to head south, to DC, where they expected civilisation, a more or less intact building coming up on their left drew Dan's attention and held it. Unlike all the other places they'd seen so far, this building (luckily) lacked strung-up corpses and sported a scavenged chain link gate for a door.

Beside the gate was a bell. Beside the bell was a sign that read, in large letters, "RING ME."

Sage grabbed Dan's outstretched wrist before his finger could touch the bell. He looked at her questioningly.

"What's wrong with you? Forgotten the diner already?" She hissed. Despite the fact that no one was visible through the fence, there was a bookshelf in sight, as well as a refrigerator, among other things. If the building was empty, it hadn't been for long.

"Sage, I'm paranoid too, but it looks nothing like the diner," he answered, shrugging. His face was grim, his hand shaking slightly. "It even says 'ring me.' How hostile could they be?"

Without answering, Sage hesitantly released her brother. She reached for her knife, keeping it holstered, but still in her grip if she happened to need it. Dan mirrored her action with his pistol.

With a final, nervous glance passing between them, the vault boy rang the bell, flinching at the hollow buzzing noise it made in the silent wasteland.

They weren't quite sure what they had been expecting, but they were startled by the shuffling footsteps anyway. Sage drew her knife with one hand and grabbed for Dan's with her other just as a tired voice called out from above; "Be there in a second!"


End file.
